White powder all over tank
- Thread starter Luv2Laff
- Start date
Likely because silk is safer than the plastic but still not recommended, and 30 years, I would not recommend scaping a saltwater/reef tank with a bunch of plants. If nothing, resin ornaments but again, its a matter of preference for your own scaping.
Also, if you did not rinse the crush coral bedding, some can be dust particles
The lights are LED and the top is covered with the exception of a small opening about 2 inches wide at the back. But I don't have a surface skimmer so I'll definitely get one. Thanks
As much as we would like to think "aquarium stores" are staffed by "aquarium experts", that is simply not the case. No different than the Big Box store employee that sells lumber knowing nothing about building codes, framing or appropriate fasteners... they just sell stuff. Worse, they often provide terrible advice that is taken as credible because of the perceived expertise.
Aquarium guy - Doing something for 30 years does not make you a pro or knowledgeable. He may know more than you, but he may also not be very good at what he does. I don't know the guy so can't pass judgement but I do know that the bulk of contractors in any trade are idiots or marginal at best. The excellent ones are few and far between.
I will say this.
1 - Under gravel filtration is not something we see very often anymore in a saltwater tank for various reasons. This is something we did, (literally) 30 years ago and usually in combination with a wet dry filter. Your guy may have been doing it this way for 30 years, but there are definitely better ways that have far fewer pitfalls and are easier to maintain.
2 - The size of the power filter is only part of the game. Water movement is super important. You are getting some because of the under gravel - but surface agitation is extremely important for both gas exchange and for filtration. A big power filter does very little if the organics and detritus don't stay stirred up and make into to the filter.
The settling on your plants indicates that there is far too little flow. Your fish like flow too! The dust floating on the water means that there is no surface skimming or surface agitation.
I would think that these things would be somewhat second nature to a guy with 30 years experience. Could it be he gave you what you asked for and not what he recommended?
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Fish to like places to hide - each fish will carve at a territory and a sleeping/safety area. Caves, crevices and overhangs are more natural. If you are not wholly attached to the plants, then more rockscape would be great. Not a solid wall of rock, but something with holes, caves, overhangs, arches... stable so it will not fall.
“thefishguy” with 30 years experience must have explained this , right? He must have…..
Thanks for your advice. My guy was working with what I had. I've wanted a tank for years and this tank and filter were handled down to me from a friend's son. It was a freshwater tank and I wanted salt. He said it could be done. Hence what I have.
He'll be here on Thursday so I'll talk with him about our conversation and get the water moving more. I thought the current was pretty strong and why the fish hang out on the other side of the tank most of the time. So much for that theory!!
It's all good - no use pointing fingers, you have what you have. Just trying to help and get you a bit wider perspective and help you to enjoy a healthy tank.
Sorry that some people prefer to attack - They often mean well, but sometimes it is easy forget that we were all new to this at some point. Others forget that people have different goals or expectations.
Even your fish guy - he does what works for him and his customers. As I said, I don't know the man and can't pass judgement on his skills or knowledge. To that end, this very forum is chock full of people with 10, 20, 30 years of experience and opinions and methods and the idea of "what is correct" differs wildly.
Watch some videos - here, youtube, etc. and get an idea of what good flow and surface agitation look like. Surface skimming is great, but not a must if agitation is good enough. You have to have one or the other though.
Sorry that some people prefer to attack - They often mean well, but sometimes it is easy forget that we were all new to this at some point. Others forget that people have different goals or expectations.
Even your fish guy - he does what works for him and his customers. As I said, I don't know the man and can't pass judgement on his skills or knowledge. To that end, this very forum is chock full of people with 10, 20, 30 years of experience and opinions and methods and the idea of "what is correct" differs wildly.
Watch some videos - here, youtube, etc. and get an idea of what good flow and surface agitation look like. Surface skimming is great, but not a must if agitation is good enough. You have to have one or the other though.
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Were in the sea does lettuce grow?
Please do try to match the diet of the animals you buy, you wouldnt get a cat and provide it with nerds as its food would you? at the very least buy nori (seaweed) from any supermarket, that will give it a decent chance of not starving.
Yeah they definitely have their spots!! The clowns love the top corners at the end of the tank. Damsels and shrimp in the rock.
I really love the way the tank looks but if it's not good for them I can remove. I had read these were better than plastic and that made sense.
It was actually kale. I was told they love romaine lettuce but I didn't have any so tried the kale. He ate it. But he loves the shrimp. Eating one right now.
I'm sure it did, with no algae to graze on in the tank it will try to eat mostly anything. I'm glad that he lives the shrimp, that is excellent.
I would highly recommend at the very least Nori seaweed, but ideally some live rock to introduce some algae would give it very similar feeding conditions to what it would find in the wild. This will greatly extend it's lifespan so you can enjoy it for longer
If you do that some more herbivores will be necessary to reduce unwanted amounts of algae, this is easily done by adding snails like astrea, trochus, and cerinth snails.
You can also get henrit crabs which anyone checking out your tank will find fun to see.
Thanks. I thought about a hermit crab actually. I have lots of shells for him to use! Never thought of snails though. I'll get some Nori seaweed for Chip for sure. He moves around the tank a lot which I love. I have a fake anemone (its rubbery) that he loves. He's on that thing a lot. I thought the one big rock I have in the tank was considered "live" rock, but I could be wrong. My plan was to get a nice tall rock with some holes/caves for the center of the tank but haven't been able to find one I like yet so I just bought something for the time being. If you know of a good place to find live rock that's not going to break my bank I'd love the recommendation! And thanks for the help with Chip. I want to keep him around!I'm sure it did, with no algae to graze on in the tank it will try to eat mostly anything. I'm glad that he lives the shrimp, that is excellent.
I would highly recommend at the very least Nori seaweed, but ideally some live rock to introduce some algae would give it very similar feeding conditions to what it would find in the wild. This will greatly extend it's lifespan so you can enjoy it for longer
If you do that some more herbivores will be necessary to reduce unwanted amounts of algae, this is easily done by adding snails like astrea, trochus, and cerinth snails.
You can also get henrit crabs which anyone checking out your tank will find fun to see.
It looks like you're in the Atlanta area. Check around for local reef clubs. I'm sure you can find some dry rock that someone is getting rid of. Rock is also very easy to shape or glue smaller pieces together to make a shape you like.
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